The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter bstubbs@tribunemedia.net As the Bahamas Swimming Federation prepares for the hosting of the 2012 Carifta Swimming Championships in April, the local swimmers are starting to fine tune themselves by turning in qualifying performances. During the latest meet Saturday as the Sea Bees Winter Invitational was held at the Betty Kelly Kenning Aquatic Center, more than 20 qualifying performances were produced along with a pair for the Caribbean Islands Swimming Championships. Joanna Evans of the Lucayan Lightning Swim Team turned in the two CISC qualifiers. Her first mark came in the girls 13-14 400 metres freestyle in four minutes and 45.82. The qualifying mark was 4:50.29 and the Carifta mark was 5:03.49. She did the other in the 100 free in 1:04.35, surpassing the CISC qualifying mark of 1:04.49 and the Carifta mark of 1:07.39. In the process, Andreas Weech of the Sea Bees also went under the Carifta qualifier with her second place finish in 1:04.75. Evans produced another Carifta qualifier in the 50 free in 30.38 and was joined by Nia Scriven from the Sea Bees in 30.93 as they both went under the qualifying time of 31.09. Weech also produced another Carifta qualifier in winning the 50 butterfly in 32.63 to surpass the mark of 32.98. Among the Carifta qualifiers were Zach Moses, Albury Higgs, Meshach Roberts, Clement Bowe, Joshua Rigby and Simone Sturrup. Moses, representing Swift Swimming, was another multiple qualifier, turning his first feat in the boys 13-14 400 free in 4:48.25 (QM was 4:50.19); the 200 breaststroke in 2:47.95 (QM was 2:54.39) and the 200 free in 2:14.94 (QM was 2:17.29). Albury of Swift Swimming took the girls 11-12 50 fly in 33.82 and Megan Reid of the Freeport Aquatic Club did 34.05 for second as they both went under the Carifta qualifying time of 34.79. On her own, Albury clocked 1:25.62 in the girls 11-12 100 breast to surpass another Carifta QM of 1:29.69. But in the 50 free, Albury led two others in surpassing the Carifta QM of 32.39 when she won in 31.34, Sea Bees' Keitra Lloyd got second in 31.73 and Reid finished third in 31.77. Bowe, also of Swift Swimming, won the boys 11-12 100 free in 1:07.85 to surpass the Carifta QM of 1:08.49 and he got another in the 50 back in 36.12. The latter Carifta QM was 36.99. Roberts of the Barracuda Swim Club won the boys 13-14 200 back in 2:31.02 to go under the Carifta qualifying mark of 2:33.99; Sturrup won the girls 13-14 100 fly in 1:12.67 to go under the Carifta QM of 1:13.29 and Joshua Rigby of the Freeport Aquatic Club swum 28.72 to surpass the Carifta QM of 29.09. Sea Bees' head coach Lucas Leite said the meet was a keenly contested one and everybody was pleased the way they staged it in the format that they used. "We decided to include a lot of relays, including mixed relays with two boys and two girls, and it was very exciting because this gave everybody a different form to compete in from the normal swim meets," he said. "It was a good experience for some of them, but with all of the clubs working towards Carifta, the times are getting faster and faster right now. So technically from results, I think this was the best meet we had so far this year." Although he didn't produce any Carifta qualifying times, T'Auren Moss led the Sea Bees by winning the boys 15 and over 50 fly in 26.08; 100 fly in 58.49 and the 50 free in 25.31.